After reading the third Valentin St. Cyr mystery, set in the early 1900s in New Orleans, I found the remaining four books in the series online and quickly ordered them. These trade paperbacks are a bit taller, published by a different press, different than the first three books, and apparently, quality control is not prioritized with regards to typesetting and proofing. Typos, poor scene breaks in a number of spots, extra words, missing words, and other oddities marred this book.

Another strike against it is typical for many ongoing series when the author has to catch new readers up on character backstories and the events from the previous books. In this case, it comes across as filler and I hope Fulmer found more interesting ways to insert these info dumps in the remaining three titles. In addition, there are brief scenes that seem to have been included to pad the page count as they are little more than a quick check-in with a character without advancing either story or character development.

And yet, once I got to the back half of the book, I found Valentin's latest case as compelling as ever. The case revolves around the murders of three wealthy men found at or in a high level house of prostitution that have one thing in common: they're all owned by the same man. The victims were all shot and each has a long cut on his face. Is a madman on the loose in Storyvill, the red-light district, or is something more sinister at work? Valentin's efforts to solve the mystery and end the killing causes trouble between him and his live-in lover, former prostitute Justine who had thought Valentin was finished with Storyville and its problems.

I'm still enjoying this series, but the feeling of padding and a lack of freshness in the telling keep this from being as good as the earlier three. ( )

I read this out of order, but it didn't make any difference. David Fulmer has done it again. I'm going to read "Jass" next, but I'm certain it won't disappoint. ( )